Microsoft Paint To Be Discontinued After 32 Years

With the announcement of Microsoft’s next Windows 10 Update, called the Autumn (or Fall in the US) Creators Update, will bring several new features to the 3D Paint, as suggesting that the time has come to the 32-years-old Microsoft Paint rip off.

First released with the very first version of Windows 1.0 in 1985, Paint in its various guises would be one of the first graphics editors since by many and became a core part of Windows. With the Windows 10 Creators Update, released in April, Microsoft introduced the new Paint 3D, which is integrated alongside traditional Paint and features 3D image making tools as well a some basic 2D image editing.

Now after 32-years, Microsoft has announced that, alongside Outlook Express, Reader app and Reading list, Microsoft Paint will be discontinued (signaled for death), been added to the “features that are removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update” list.

Paint was never one of the most capable apps, but was limited to the bitmap (BMP) and PCX formats until 1998, rather if you wanted to scribe something out using your mouse or make a quick cut and paste job, Paint was always there, even on work computers.

The latest version of Paint for Windows 7 and later was much improved, though, still considered feature poor compared to other free alternatives such as the third-party Paint.NET.

Currently, we have got no exact date on when Microsoft Paint will officially be removed from Windows, as has yet to be confirmed, while a precise date for the release of the Windows 10 Autumn Creators Update is equally up in the air. Whether, like Clippy, Windows users will celebrate or decry Paint’s removal, it will be a moment in the history of Windows as one of its longest-standing apps is put out to pasture.